• Question: How does the Turing Test work and how was it devised? What is the typical result?

    Asked by Rhiannon to Huma on 17 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by Billie.
    • Photo: Huma Shah

      Huma Shah answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      Hello Rhiannon,

      Alan Turing, 20th century mathematician and Bletchley Park codebreaker, devised an imitation game commonly known as the Turing test.

      How a Turing test is set-up depends on the question you want to answer, the basic one being: ‘Can a human interrogator, using text-based questions only, determine if they are speaking to a human or a machine when they can’t see or hear their chat partner?’ – Think of the scenario something like the chat interface here on ‘I’m a Scientist’.

      At the moment, as in 2016, typical results are:

      1. Most humans can tell the difference between human and machine from the answers.

      2. Sometimes some human interrogators get it wrong and:
      – a. think a machine is human
      – b. think a hidden human (acting as a foil for the machine), is not human
      -c. some are uncertain and can’t say from the answers whether they were put by a human or a machine.

      You can read about the last major Turing test experiment, with pictures and short video clips, held at The Royal Society London in June 2014 on my blog here:
      http://turingtestsin2014.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/eugene-goostman-machine-convinced-3333.html

      My view on why we hold Turing test experiments is here:
      http://humashah.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/turing-test-is-more-than-mere-theatre.html

      Hope this helps, do ask your Teacher to get in touch if you would like to take part in a future experiment.

      Thanks for the question and allowing me to explain.

      Huma

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